Page 18 - MetalForming June 2010

Recreating History with
Modern Technology
Variations
on a racecar builder’s obsession with weld quality.
Watch an interview
with Dan Webb—
welder extraordinaire—at www.metalshapingblog.com. Just enter Dan Webb in
the search bar.
In 1917, the quirky-looking Golden Submarine forever ele- Early car builders experimented with different techniques
vated the art of racecar design and performance. It was the
first racer with a steel safety cage and one of the first tested in a wind tunnel, which led to its curved airfoil shape. The result was an unintentional blueprint that influenced the Art Deco movement in the decades that followed.
Beneath its bubble-shaped bronze exterior lay evidence of a compulsive designer fixated on detail and craftsmanship. Harry Miller meticulously constructed that car and his other cars well beyond most practical consideration. Sheetmetal parts, unseen deep within the car’s chassis, were formed and finished to the same painstaking standards as the rest of the visible components.
Modern-Day Arc-Welding Expertise Honors Century-Old Craftsmanship
In 2007, Dan Webb set out to honor Miller’s iconic creation by building a low-sloping hotrod variation of the original. For Webb, the project needed to transcend mere steel and rubber and embrace the spirit of Miller’s obsession with quality. What Webb brought to the project 90 years later was a new level of welding technology available only in the last few years.
16 METALFORMING / JUNE 2010
www.metalformingmagazine.com
of oxyfuel welding, the popular process choice at the time. But many builders, including Harry Miller, were unconvinced that welding technology could afford the intricate craftsmanship required for thin-gauge steel. So, many racecars at the time, including the Golden Submarine, were riveted together.
Today, most high-end racing and show cars are gas-tung- sten-arc (GTA) welded. Webb GTA welds every part of his show cars, relying on the precise control of arc starts, power settings and arc stability afforded by state-of-the-arc power supplies. Most recently, for his shop in Burton, MI, he’s opted for a Lincoln Electric model, the Invertec V310-T AC/DC, which provides a number of variable settings as well as digi- tal display of the effects of each welding parameter.
The Perfect Beads for a Perfect Golden Submarine Replica
Webb considered the V310’s technology capabilities to be a substantial breakthrough, and so with the original builder in mind, he decided to lay down perfect GTA-weld beads throughout his Golden Submarine replica, regardless of the need for visibility—just as Harry Miller would have done.